Flaking Antique

[icer22x]

Good evening all,

I just finished my first leather journal a few weeks ago. I tooled a viking serpent on the front: https://imgur.com/gallery/Jsuj1QK

As you can see, there are many grooves and crevices in the design. My process went as follows:

• Dyed leather (black and brown areas)
• After dye dried for about a day, I applied Tan Kote
• After Tan Kote dried for a couple hours, I applied Fiebings antique paste making sure to get into all the crevices
• I let the antique set for about 10 minutes, the wiped off with sheep pad
• Applied a final Tan Kote to journal

My problem: As I bend the cover through normal use, the antique flakes off onto my desk. How could I have prevented this? Through my understanding of how this process works, it seems most likely that the first application of Tan Kote was too thick (even though I was paying attention to use it sparingly) and crept down into the crevices where it didn't belong. Then, once the antique settled down there, it didn't have any leather to adhere to because of the resist nature of Tan Kote.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance for your help.

Edited August 20, 2019 by icer22x

[Sheilajeanne]

Tan Kote is a resin-based finish. Even though it's not a water proof finish, I believe it does have some water resistance. My guess is the resin in it prevented the antique from soaking into the leather. Next time, I'd apply the antique before the Tan Kote.

[Halitech]

I'll' start this by saying that yes, some people use Tankote as a resist for antique, but it is NOT designed to be used as a resist. You don't want something that will run and pool into the depressions and then dry. Satin shene is a better option as it will dry quicker and does not end up being a thick layer. Personally, my go to now is Fiebings Pro-resist. It's a little thicker then shene but thinner then tankote. I find 2 coats applied over a 4 hour period and then doing the antique the next day works best for me. Then, I apply my top coat with an airbrush so I don't stir up the antique.

[terrymac]

You didn't get all of the antique off after the initial application.  If you have  antique flakes, you didn't come close to getting enough off. You want to make sure none is left in any grooves anywhere. It sounds like you did the right thing in using a wool pad, just didn't get enough. I don't use Tankote as a resist as I feel it does too good of a job, but I do use it as a final finish. I use Clearlac as a resist

Hope this helps

Terry

[Halitech]

7 minutes ago, terrymac said:

You didn't get all of the antique off after the initial application.  If you have  antique flakes, you didn't come close to getting enough off. You want to make sure none is left in any grooves anywhere. It sounds like you did the right thing in using a wool pad, just didn't get enough. I don't use Tankote as a resist as I feel it does too good of a job, but I do use it as a final finish. I use Clearlac as a resist

Hope this helps

Terry

If you are using antique to highlight the tooling and cuts, if you wipe it all away, why bother putting it on in the first place? The trick is to remove enough so it doesn't flake but not too much that there's nothing left in the tooling and carving areas.

[terrymac]

The purpose is to highlight the tooling and cuts. It also applies a certain tone to the leather, but not visibly noticeable.  If you want to add color, there are other products that will do a better job.  When the paste is all removed the desired effect is accomplished. The primary reason people use checkered bevelers is the minute amounts are captured.

Terry

 

 

 

 

[Halitech]

6 minutes ago, terrymac said:

The purpose is to highlight the tooling and cuts. It also applies a certain tone to the leather, but not visibly noticeable.  If you want to add color, there are other products that will do a better job.  When the paste is all removed the desired effect is accomplished. The primary reason people use checkered bevelers is the minute amounts are captured.

Terry

 

 

 

 

ok, I *think* we're actually saying the same thing but you don't want to remove it all, just the antique that's on the top. If you remove it all from the cuts and tooling, you end up with nothing unless your desired effect is to waste time and money.

And I don't use it to stain my leather, I use dye for that.

[terrymac]

No, I mean to remove it all and the effect will still be there. Look at Hidepounder's work and will see all the cuts are completely clean of antique.  If you leave residues you end up with the "mud puddle" look as Jeff (JSLeather) likes to refer to.

Terry

Edited August 30, 2019 by terrymac